Pure Bliss
by SakuraKokoro
Summary: Mori was determined to get through the Chuunin Exams without having to deal with her stepmother and stepsister. Her only comforts were her little sister and best friends, but she was feeling something different for Kankuro and it wasn't just friendship...


Konnichiwa and Hajimemashite! Hello and welcome to another one of my stories! This one in particular is a one shot. Originally, this was a one shot on **Quizilla**. I put up a notice on the site saying that I would write one shots for people that sent me info on their characters. This one is a request from Emi-Jade and I liked how it turned out, so I decided to put it up here. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters made by Masashi Kishimoto-sama or the ones made up by Emi-Jade. I do, however, obviously own the made-up storyline.**

"Jeez, that was so tiring," sighed 14-year-old Yarui Moriko as she stretched her tense arm muscles. "Who knew that the last question was a trick?" Mori, as she liked to be called, turned to a slight tug on her light-blue tank top. She smiled to her little sister and teammate, Katie, who had a fist-full of Mori's shirt.

"Nee-chan," she said in a quiet voice, "don't forget that that was only the first part of the Chuunin exams."

Mori chuckled. "I won't." And she continued walking down the hall.

It was then a brunette caught up to the two sisters in the hallway. The girl quickly seized the opportunity to quickly jerk Mori's long, dirty-blonde hair. "What's up Step-sis?" she said smirking.

From behind her headband, Mori's crystal blue eyes flashed in anger. She turned once again to face, this time, her older sister, Danica. "What do you want?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to walk with my beloved sisters and teammates." Danica smiled.

"Yeah, right," Mori muttered under her breath. "More like you wanted to use us again for another one of your stupid plans."

"What was that?" A look of anger crossed Danica's face.

"Nothing." Mori shrugged innocently.

"Are you _wanting_ me to hit you? Or should I hit your beloved sister instead?" Danica, her face now screwed up with fury, readied herself to slap Katie.

But, Mori quickly stepped in the way, wincing slightly as Danica hit her cheek, right on top of an earlier bruise from Danica herself.

"Why you little..." And with that, Danica stormed ahead to the exit.

"Are you alright, Nee-chan?" Katie asked worried. "You know you don't have to protect me so much..."

"I'm fine. Actually, we really should be chasing that girl because who knows what she could tell our stepmother. There's no way of knowing what that little mama's girl would do next." Mori broke out into a run, Katie hot on her heels. The two skidded to a stop just outside the door...right in front of their stepmother, Danielle, and a smug-looking Danica behind her.

"What is your problem, Moriko?!" Danielle demanded.

'Oh, nothing; just your butt-ugly face and your sad excuse for a daughter,' Mori thought. "Nothing..." she muttered.

"Well, when you check your smart-ass attitude, come and tell me, 'kay?" Danielle said in a mockingly sweet ton. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to your dear little sister, now, would you?" Danielle eyed Katie maliciously. "Now, let's go. You have to get ready for the next task." Danielle marched off toward the dreaded Forest of Death.

Team 13 filled out their paperwork, under the eye of their sensei, Danielle. Danica led the way to gate #17. As the three entered and wandered through the forest, scroll with the Heaven symbol in hand, Mori automatically went on guard. A sudden rustling in the bushes to their right occurred. Danica, being the type to act before thinking, quickly pulled out a kunai and threw it toward the source of the noise. The rustling stopped. Mori and Katie tensed, ready to attack.

Out of the bushes stepped, first, Gaara of the Desert, and his siblings, Kankuro and Temari.

"I believe that this is yours," Gaara said quietly, handing the kunai back to Danica.

"Gaara-sama!" she said, surprised. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know," she spluttered. Gaara, on the other hand, just ignored her and turned to leave.

'Sama?' Moriko thought. 'Hmmm. Miss Prissy seems to have a crush... I sense blackmail time!' She smiled at the thought.

"And what, may I ask, is so funny, Mori-chan?" Kankuro asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Nothing much. Just the fact that you always look like a cute little kitty," she replied, teasing playfully.

"Mori-chan, we have to get going now, but here's a present. Catch." Temari, who happened to be Mori's best after the Yarui family's move to Sunagakure, tossed her a scroll, which had inscribed on it, the kanji for Earth.

"Temari! We were supposed to get this ourselves!" Mori exclaimed.

"So I saved you some trouble, no biggie. Now it's up to you to get to the tower in time. See ya!" Temari winked and ran to catch up with her brothers.

"Thanks so much, Temari-chan, Kankuro-chan, Gaara-sama!" Danica called after them. Temari stopped dead in her tracks and ran back, right up to Danica.

"Don't _ever_ act familiar with us," Temari growled. "Remember this, we're only nice to you because of Moriko. "And, with that, Temari went away.

"What was that about?" Danica muttered as she walked behind Mori and Katie, the latter struggling to stifle a laugh.

3 1/2 days later, the three arrived at the tower and followed the instructions all the way up to the start of the preliminary rounds. Moriko stood at the balcony waiting for them to begin. Katie, however, sat, legs stuck through the bars, swinging back and forth.

"The first two to fight are Yarui Moriko and Yarui Danica!" the proctor called.

Danica smiled mischievously as they jumped down and assumed their positions. Mori could hear the mutters of the audience wondering why her headband was over her eyes and how could she win without being able to see. How many times did she have to tell them that it was her chakra letting her see through the material?

When the fight began, Mori immediately lifted her left arm and pulled down her elbow-high glove. A knaifu, a band containing a long wire with an attached kunai, encased her arm. Mori used her chakra to control the wire and tripped Danica. She flipped backward in time and threw two shuriken at Mori, who, in turn, easily dodged them.

The fight went on for another ten minutes and the two were beginning to slow from fatigue. Mori began to wrap the wire around Danica and succeeded, but not before Danica sent a bolt of chakra in the form of electricity back up the wire. Mori's arm went limp, but the wire infused with chakra held fast. She tried to move her now lifeless arm, but failed.

'There's no choice. I'm going to have to use Mom's kekkei genkai!' she thought.

Katie, watching intently from the sidelines, realized what was about happen and yelled out to her older sister. "Nee-chan! Don't use it! Don't use the Chiyusei!"

"What is the Chiyusei?" Naruto and his team as well as curious others around her wondered.

"What? You're going to use your precious mother's bloodline trait? You actually think that'll impress Kankuro and save you?" Danica smirked, fully aware that Mori really liked the said person deep down.

Mori gasped involuntarily and looked up. Thankfully, Kankuro happened to be looking at Katie at that particular moment...

Katie became even quieter as she looked at her small audience. "Um, the Chiyusei is a kekkei genkai that Nee-chan inherited from Mother. She's the only person in the whole world to have it, since I didn't inherit it. It's a really powerful healing technique that comes from her clear blue eyes, but if Nee-chan uses it without concern about her chakra, the results could be deadly..."

Down on the ground, Mori was preparing herself for the healing. 'Why doesn't the proctor call time yet?' she thought to herself. 'Oh, well. I'll have to heal this my own way, then.'

Mori's eyes flashed growing brighter and brighter. She could feel her eyes pulsating as the chakra from her them was being drained to her arm, which was slowly beginning to heal. Her ability to see through her headband was fading. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain up her left arm and the healing process immediately stopped. Her body crumbled, but the bind around Danica was miraculously still holding. Mori's breathing was ragged and she struggled to stand. With a last effort, she used a bit more chakra to tighten the bind until she heard a sickening but satisfying crunch. She released Danica and the latter fell over, both arms severely broken.

"I declare this match over! Yarui Moriko is the winner!" Those words were a comfort and Mori allowed the medic nin to take her away.

An hour later, Mori sat in her hospital bedroom surrounded by Kankuro, Temari, and Katie.

"Are you sure you're okay, Mori?" Temari asked.

"I already told you! I'm fine!"

"But, Nee-chan, you have bandages over your eyes and up your arm and I'm guessing you can't use your chakra to see. With the way you used your chakra earlier, you shouldn't even be alive." Katie's voice came out panicked.

"It's alright, Katie. I'll be okay," Mori smiled at their concern. "What about you Kankuro? Are you going to give me some sympathy too?" She heard the door open and click shut. "Huh? Why'd the door close? Did someone leave?"

"Temari and Katie are gone," came Kankuro's reply. Mori's eyebrows flew up. She wasn't expecting that.

"Um, Moriko?"

'Huh? Kankuro's never called me Moriko before…' Mori thought. "Yeah?"

It was then when she felt something pressing against her lips. She realized in shock that it was Kankuro! The kiss was gone as quick as it had left. Mori just sat there, stunned.

"…Moriko?" Can I take off the bandage around your eyes for a second?" She nodded slowly and felt Kankuro pull up the wrapping. She squinted at the sudden brightness, but her eyes focused to see a blushing Kankuro. "I'm sorry I…kissed…you. I don't know what came over me." He looked away still red. "You know, I've never seen your eyes before…they're really pretty." With that said, Kankuro managed to blush even deeper.

"Thank you…" Mori took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. "Um, ever since I moved to Sunagakure, I've always thought of you as a friend." She paused to glance at him, but seeing his face fall, quickly said, "Now, I'm thinking we could be something more?" Mori looked up at Kankuro hopefully.

He brightened and turned to look back at Mori, smiling. He leaned down to kiss her tenderly. "…Yes," he whispered.

"Kankuro?"

"Hmmm?"

"I don't want you to leave, but shouldn't you get back to the prelims?"

Kankuro got up to leave. But not before caressing her face with his hand. As the door closed, Mori sat back and pulled the bandage back over her eyes. Her mind wandered and the memory of her kiss surfaced.

'I can think of two words to describe it: pure bliss…'

Whew! That was the _longest_ one shot I have ever written! I really like how it turned out! Hopefully, Emi-Jade thinks so too! Now that you've read, please review and tell me what you think.

Also, since I have put up a notice on **Quizilla** saying I'd write fifteen one shot quizzes for the first people to ask me, I'll put up a notice soon on my profile for FanFiction as well. However, I might be a little slower at thinking of ideas and writing them, seeing as school is starting. I'll do my best, though! Please look out for it!


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